enhanced his reputation in Pennsylvania.

That Franklin had been prospering in his private business may be judged
from the facts that in 1748 he took into partnership David Hall, who
had been a fellow journeyman with him in London; and that his purpose
was substantially to retire and get some "leisure ... for philosophical
studies and amusements." He cherished the happy but foolish notion of
becoming master of his own time. But his fellow citizens had purposes
altogether inconsistent with those pleasing and comfortable plans which
he sketched so cheerfully in a letter to his friend Colden in September,
1748. The Philadelphians, whom he had taught thrift, were not going to
waste such material as he was. "The publick," he found, "now considering
me as a man of leisure, laid hold of me for their purposes; every part
of our civil government, and almost at the same time, imposing some duty
upon me. The governor put me into the commission of the peace; the
corporation of the city chose me of the common council, and soon after
an alderman; and the citizens at large chose me a burgess to represent
them in the Assembly." This last position pleased him best, and he
turned himself chiefly to its duties, with the gratifying result, as he
records, that the "trust was repeated every year for ten years, without
my ever asking any elector for his vote, or signifying, either directly
or indirectly, any desire of being chosen."

The next year he was appointed a commissioner to treat with the Indians,
in which business he had so much success as can ever attend upon
engagements with savages. He gives an amusing account of the way in
which all the Indian emissaries got drunk, and of their quaint apology:
that the Great Spirit had made all things for some use; that "when he
made rum, he said, 'Let this be for the Indians to get drunk with;' _and
it must be so_."

In 1751 he assisted Dr. Bond in the foundation of his hospital. The
doctor at first tried to carry out his scheme alone, but could not. The
tranquil vanity of Franklin's narration is too good to be lost: "At
length he came to me, with the compliment that he found there was no
such thing as carrying a public-spirited project through, without my
being concerned in it. 'For,' says he, 'I am often asked by those to
whom I propose subscribing. Have you consulted Franklin upon this
business? and what does he think of it? And when I tell them that I have
not (supposing it rather out of